Art or design, which is it?

As the Greeks don't differentiate between the two in their language,
what do you think this is?

http://www.bikepics.com/pictures/025061/

 

Bear says...

I seem to recall something as well, but can't find a pic anywhere. The
normal - if you can ever call a Benelli 6 that - 750 SEI and 900 SEI had
pretty average looking pipework from what I've seen.

 

Bear wrote:

That would be the Benelli Sei, which predated the CBX
by a couple of years.

The little Benelli fours copied the Honda 400/4 engine.

 

*class*

I've got one of them, in a shed in Surrey with a 1965 MGB that hasn't
turned a wheel in 5 years. I hope my bike doesn't have the same fate.

 

[pipes] Lovely.

I've just remembered I've got some photos on that site from yonks ago...

[pipe and slippers] http://www.bikepics.com/members/sorbitol/96vfr750/

 

Ben Blaney says...

I always wanted a chrome bumpered MGB GT in BRG. **** only knows why, I
just like them.

 

Me too. If that one doesn't turn a wheel for another five years, I
might see the owner is open to an offer.

 

Wotcha.

Art - because from a design point of view it's far from perfect ;-)

 

Art.

One of the attractions of the 400 Four is that exhaust. One of the most
beautiful ever, ever, ever made IMHO.

 

Four years, actually. Six-into-six pipes, yes. Some team of nutters
raced a brace of them at a 24-hour race (Le Mans or the Bol; I forget
which) with the most *incredible* six-into-one systems. I've got a pic
in an old copy of Bike somewhere.

Not really, no. The Benelli 500 four was pretty much a Honda rip-off,
but the 350cc fours, apart from being a transverse four, were... well,
just another four. A bit gutless, by all accounts.

Benelli was racing four-cylinder bikes while Honda was still faffing
with twins, I think.

 

I recall the 750 Sei having a 6 into 6 and the 900 Sei having a 6 into 2.
ICBW of course.

 

mb says...

Nice pics of a 750 SEI here, again the text is in furrin-speak.

http://www.bma-magazin.de/frame.html?
Rubriken/Archiv/Fahrberichte/Benelli/Sei750/sei750.html

 

You're right.

 

Obsession.

 

Same here. Maybe when I've got a garage big enough that it can just
sit there to be tinkered with.

 

Bear says...

I've driven loads, you seem to forget I worked in the classic car
trimming and motor accessories trade for donkey's years. Uninspiring is
the way I'd describe the performance, but I still like them.

 

I really cannot appreciate the mindset that finds an MGB desirable.
Don't go, don't stop, don't go round corners.
Fucking awful things to work on, too - I still wake up in cold
sweats with trunnions on my mind. The V8 model is a little better in
that it sounds nice and goes a bit, but the otehr caveats still apply
and in fact are compounded by the bit of extra weight over the front
end and those fuckawful to clean alloy wheels that were fitted to
them.

The only MGs that appeal to me are the likes of the TF and its ilk or
perhaps a Midget with a snorty motor in it.

I'd take yer arm off if you offered me a GT6 or a TR6, mind - but one
of my favourite little sportscars was a Spitfire of all things that
one of my mates shoehorned a 2.5 lump into. That sounded well and
went acceptably, although the handling was a little exciting at times.
In order to give him some competition, I dropped an Alfa two litre
twincam motor and box into a Spitty - that was pretty good fun, too.

 

It's a motorcycle. Google for Allen Millyard.

 

Pip says...

Don't care, I still one.

 

Bear says...

I wouldn't own a BL produced one, I'd have a proper original V8 version
by Costello, if | could find one for sale.